Amsterdam, the Netherlands, February 15, 2001

In a move designed to reinforce its European Internet activities, Wolters Kluwer nv chooses Atos Origin as the sole technical partner for developing and hosting the Wolters Kluwer European Technology Platform. Wolters Kluwer will use this platform for the creation and deployment of business-to-business portals for legal, tax and HR professionals and for workflow software applications in Europe. With this partnership, Wolters Kluwer will be able to further expand its European portal strategy and to create an efficient and cost-effective Internet infrastructure for its European Legal, Tax & Business cluster. Financial details of the agreement are not disclosed.

The Wolters Kluwer European Technology Platform is facilitating the rapid development of country-specific websites for legal, tax and HR-professionals. Country-specific content will be integrated to allow the formation of a pan-European legal, tax and HR-database and an umbrella web community for European professionals. Using the state-of-the-art expertise of Atos Origin's Multimedia Activity, Wolters Kluwer will be able to build websites that will attract professionals with highly specialized requirements. Wolters Kluwer is convinced that as a result its portals will become the on line meeting points for the legal, tax and HR professionals.

"An increasing number of our customers are using the Internet as a platform for their work. Therefore Wolters Kluwer is making significant efforts and investments to acknowledge and respond to this demand", says Jean-Marc Detailleur, responsible for Legal, Tax & Business Europe as Member of the Executive Board of Wolters Kluwer. "Our strategy envisions offering all existing content, services, and software on the Internet platform but also moving beyond this extension with the creation of new Internet-specific products, services and productivity tools. The current reinforcement of our European Technology Platform fully underlines this strategy."

"This partnership with Atos Origin is a one-time opportunity to further strengthen our Internet position. With Atos Orgin we have already developed some very successful on line initiatives and therefore I believe that this agreement will enable us to combine the best of both companies", Mr. Detailleur added. "We are determined to offer our professional communities the best new web activities and with this agreement we will make it happen."

The Wolters Kluwer European Internet Service Centre (EISC), based in Brussels, is coordinating the deployment of the Wolters Kluwer European Technology Platform. EISC has been created by Wolters Kluwer in order to reduce the time-to-market cycle, and to establish technical standardization between all operating companies in the European Legal, Tax & Business cluster. Furthermore, EISC will create cost savings and extend Wolters Kluwer's market position. EISC is operating under the authority of David Smith, the CEO of Legal, Tax & Business Europe.

Atos Origin's Multimedia Activity is already the technical partner for successful Wolters Kluwer online initiatives such as Teleroute.com (the leading European freight exchange system), Jobnews.nl (a leading career site and portal for human resources issues), Lamyline.com (the largest legal database in France), and other local French projects. To meet the needs of Wolters Kluwer, Atos Origin has created a Wolters Kluwer department entirely dedicated to the above-mentioned initiatives.

Note for the editorWolters Kluwer is a multinational information services company with annual sales of more than EUR 3 billion, employing approximately 19,000 people in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. The company's core activities are Legal, Tax & Business, International Health & Science, and Education. The Wolters Kluwer shares are quoted on the Euronext Amsterdam. Financial results for the year 2000 will be announced on March 27, 2001.

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